The Slave Trade in Colonial America Research Paper

The Slave Trade in colonial the States - Research Paper ExampleSlave traders, nevertheless, justified thrall, use British common law, some Christian beliefs, and natural rights philosophy, where these sources promoted thraldom through racism. These sources stressed the inferiority of other races and the supremacy of the white race and culture, as hearty as the authority of Catholicism.1 For centuries, slavery progressed in compound America, just now not without resistance from abolitionists and slaves themselves2. This paper describes the history and important events during the slave trade in Colonial America. It no longer deals with the abolition of slavery, but focuses on the economic aspects of the slave trade. The Beginnings of Slavery The history of slavery does not begin in colonial America but centuries before that, and it is said to have started in Europe. Booker T. Washington said that slavery of Africans began in A.D.990.3 The Moors who did not have curly hair as wel l actively traded slaves in various countries in Europe and the Middle East.4 The Arabs even brought their black ivory to Cyprus and distributed them across Europe.5 The Portuguese, however, were attributed to be the originators of slavery in Christian Europe.6 Prince Henry, the sailing master (1394-1460), third son of King John I of Portugal, established a navigation college at Sagres on Cape Saint Vincent in 1419, because he wanted to discover new lands and convert the heathens into Catholics.7 All non-Christians were then called as heathens, a pejorative word for people considered as uncivilized. During this time, the world was divided between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the two Catholic powers with naval capabilities. The British wanted to emulate these old superpowers and explored North America as its colonial territory. From here, they brought and traded slaves, who sustained their new economy.8 The first assemblage of English people sent to the Americas in 1590, the Roanoke, was not a success they mysteriously disappe bed and were never found again.9 Still, this did not dent the English from pursuing the closure of America. In 1606, a group of English investors had created the Virginia Company.10 They recruited people who were willing to be the new settlers in America. These new settlers did not originally conceive the need for slavery in their blueprint, because they focused on freedom and the opportunity to own land. Later on, it became clearer that in order to become rich, it was crucial to have the necessary labor to direct economic activities competitively.11 This peculiar institution of slavery expanded as part of the plantation systems, first in sugar plantations, and then to tobacco and cotton plantations.12 The slaves are then called black gold because of trading profits and plantation profits. One scholar stressed that slavery is not based on color alone, but more for economic reasons The reason for Negro slavery is economic, not ra cialit has more to do with the cheapness of labor. As compared with Indian and white labor, Negro slavery was eminently superior13 Slavery spread deeply and widely in South, where slave trading generally became predominant. Slave Trade in Colonial America The exact time and place of when and where the slave trade began in America is still debatable. One source